Like Mother, Like Daughter
by Little-Angry-Kitten
Summary: The story already sounded familiar and she would be damned if her little girl went through the same thing Rose did. No one had stood up for her back then, Rose would not let history repeat itself. Sequel to "Crawling Back To You" and "Family Affairs"


She wrapped her coat a bit tighter around her waist. She would never admit it to anyone but she had missed the Montana winters. They spend their time between Turkey and Pennsylvania with breaks to visit the twins at the Academy. But ultimately Rose had missed her home, the remote location, the chilly mornings, the people she still called family. She had spent half her life here, in these grounds scraping her knees and giving everyone hell.

It had been almost twenty-four years since Rose and Dimitri had walked away from their guarding jobs. It had not always been easy, it had not always been fun but it had been the perfect choice for them. Rose had done more things for Lissa while taking over Abe's business than she could have as her guardian. Even though her best friend had overturned both the quorum and the age law some uneasiness was left behind. Which was were Rose came in. The moment a royal thought about creating trouble she remind them why they should keep their mouth shut. Was it perfect? No, but politics rarely were.

No one was surprised when they decided to send the kids to St. Vladimir's. It was the only place she trusted with the lives of her children. Rose and Dimitri had spent endless hours discussing the issue. They knew it would be a good experience for the kids but they didn't want them to feel abandoned. God knows their parents had had enough of that in their early years. Eventually, they pitched the ideas to Ivan and Aleksandra directly and they made the decision together.

The kids would join the academy for a year to have the experience and stay if they liked it. It turned out they had a blast with it. Rose missed them but it also gave her time for business. She and Dimitri made a habit of visiting as much as they could though. Alberta had been kind enough to let them stay in the cabin every time. Which only led to reliving the first time they had been together every time. Not that Rose was complaining.

They had waited until the kids were a bit older. Rose had homeschooled them until the age of seven, squeezing training in between lessons. Adrian, whom for some weird had got himself a teaching job, had helped her put fun stuff together to make the learning easier. Much to everyone's dismay, her offsprings took after her behavior wise. They were smart, fast and needed to be entertained. Stan had been less than ecstatic when Aleksandra talked back to him on her first day. Ivan had been more sly, he had a mouth but waited to use it. A dangerous mix between her and Dimitri, she would never admit it but she was proud of her little boy. Neither Ivan nor Aleksandra were sure if they wanted to join the guardians yet but they were having fun.

Up until two days ago when Alberta called and asked her to come in. Her old teacher would not elaborate over the phone but she had mentioned an incident. Something had happened to cause Ivan to snap and that only led to Aleksandra stepping in. The twins tended to cause trouble but most of the time it was harmless. Alberta gave Rose regular updates of the havoc the kids were wrecking. But her tone had been different this time, the older woman had used it on Rose a lot when she was younger.

The snow crunched under her feet and she smiled to herself. Rose had no idea how the years passed so fast. It felt like yesterday she was here herself. Like a day hadn't passed since she met Dimitri and her life changed forever. If she closed her eyes it still felt like a minute since she had just given birth to the twins. In reality, she would turn forty-three next march and wrinkles had started appearing on the corners of her eyes. When she had mentioned it her husband, he had wrapped his arms around her and kissed her breathless. Then spent all night proving to her exactly how much he loved her, wrinkles or not.

"Rose!" Alberta calling her name brought her out of her thoughts. "It's nice to have you back." The older woman pulled her into a tight hug before she escorted them inside.

 _~oOo~_

"Honestly," Alberta set a cup of tea in front of her. "I'm not mad at the kids, just disappointed that they did not come to me with any concerns." Rose could hear it on her old teacher's voice. Alberta had been more than that actually. Over the years she had become a part of their family, the kids knew her as aunt Alberta. She had spent summers teaching the fighting technics, Christmas building snowmen with them outside, weekends babysitting so Rose and Dimitri could have time to themselves.

"You still haven't told me what happened and I'm starting to feel like it's something very bad." Rose brought the full cup to her lips. She had stopped drinking coffee when she was pregnant and kind of never got into the habit again.

"Sasha and Ivan got into a fight with another student." Alberta finally said. "The incident was handled internally but the boy's parents wanted you to be notified. However, I gave all of them detention. According to witnesses, the other kid had actually been trying to get a rise out of your kids for weeks." Rose rolled her eyes, it looks like the little shit had managed what he wanted.

"I understand." Rose nodded solemnly. Consequences were something they taught the kids from an early age. Every action has a reaction, so detention only made sense. "What's the name of the kid?"

"Andrew Zeklos." Rose's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name. Andrew was Jesse's son and every bit the asshole his father was at this age. Rose thought Jesse would have learned enough from his mistakes to warn his spawn to not mess with the Hathaway-Belikov clan. She did have an entire folder of things that could ruin Jesse after all. Rose had established that when Jesse stepped out of line a few years back. He thought his status as a royal would afford him the freedom to bad mouth her. Boy, was he surprised when she proved him wrong!

Her mind rushed back to something Lissa's eldest had said a few weeks back. Andre had graduated some months ago and was currently taking a year off to work out what he wanted to do. Rose had heard him mention in passing that Andrew had a thing for her daughter. From the gossip that went around her mini-me had turned down the boy many times. But he didn't seem to be getting the message. Familiar memories came back and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. It was nice to know that Jesse passed down all his bad genes.

"Sasha refuses to tell me what Andrew said to piss Ivan off and so does your son. I tried both as their teacher and as their aunt but they won't say a word. I asked you to come because I think you'll have better luck."

"I'll talk to them." Rose nodded. "I'll also need to have a chat with Jesse. Obviously, he has forgotten what my fist feels like against his face." Alberta smiled indulgently.

"Rose!" The older woman chastised and they both burst into laughter.

 _~oOo~_

Rose did not tell Dimitri what was happening. Not before she had all the facts herself. Her husband had been back home to Baia for the last couple of weeks. Yeva had passed away several months ago and the Belikova women had a hard time with it. In all honesty, Rose wasn't feeling that great either. She had grown to love the old bat and thought she would stay with them forever. Dimitri's grandmother, however, had decided that her job here was done and she needed to move on. Yeva had said so many times during the years Rose had known her.

Rose never believed her.

She knew that if she had said anything to her husband he would be on the next flight home. Olena and his sisters needed him more right now, though. Plus, she could handle Jesse and his devil spawn just fine. She had sorted out worse messes than her ex and his decision to bring more idiots on this earth. Everyone knew Jesse was terrified of her. Rose had made sure to fan the flames the past few years, anything to see him squirm in his chair. Was it right? Nope. But was it fun? Yes, it was.

The guardians tended to respect both her and Dimitri even though they were not on active duty. Their influence had done so much for the Dhampir population the last few years. No one could deny that their world was changed for the best because of them. Especially the way Dhampir women were treated in the communes. Christian's idea for Moroi fighters had taken off and now there were more options regarding protection. Strigoi numbers had gone down, trained people to deal with the problem had gone up and people were mostly happy. Even Rose and Dimitri contributed to hunting trips once in a while, just for old time's sake.

It had been hard at first, establishing that they would not be returning. But it all worked out in the end. They had secured the throne for Lissa and assisted Christian with his Moroi combat program. They had set Adrian into a straight path and had helped Jill deal with the weight of being the Dragomir Princess. They had done their job, they had both earned the right to live how they wanted.

Rose leaned against the doorframe of the gym door. She had spent so much time in here training with Dimitri during her last year at the academy. She had also spent some less frustrating moments after they had gotten together. Training with Dimitri was always more fun when it led to mind-blowing sex. But her thoughts were getting sidetracked. Her offsprings were her priority right now.

Aleksandra was beating up one of the dummies, her moves fast and clumsy. Rose could see she was frustrated by her posture. Her dark brown hair had been pulled in a high ponytail, a few strands escaping and framing her face. Her daughter looked so much like her father it was astonishing. From her dark brown eyes to her height Aleksandra was all Dimitri. But her expressions and sass? That was all Rose! Aleksandra could give anyone a run for their money, even Adrian's asshole father. Rose couldn't be prouder for her little girl.

"You need to widen your stance," Rose called and Aleksandra turned to look at her surprised.

"Mamma?" Rose never thought that this word would give her so much joy. She never thought she'd have children, period. But life had a weird way of sneaking up on you and giving you things you never knew you needed. There hadn't been a day she wasn't grateful for her children.

"Do I not get a hug?" Rose asked moving closer and the next moment her arms were full. Her heart expanded in her chest, Sasha's familiar sense surrounding her. When had her kids grown up so much? It felt like it was yesterday when Rose was tacking them into bed. They would be off to the real world in less than six months, all by themselves. Rose was not ready for it. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Her daughter murmured, trying to melt into Rose's smaller frame. She could tell that whatever happened was more serious than what Rose originally thought. "Did aunt Alberta call you?" Rose nodded and pulled them to the benches at the side of the gym.

"She was very worried about you," Rose explained taking Aleksandra's hands in her own and inspecting the bandages on them. They were hurt but it wasn't from beating up the dummies. "What wrong, kizim?" Rose asked the question that had been eating her up since she stepped foot into the Academy. Her daughter looked at her for a long moment, as if deciding if she should let her mother into what happened.

"Andrew Zeklos has a lot to say about me," Aleksandra whispered and Rose frowned. The story already sounded familiar and she would be damned if her little girl went through the same thing Rose did. No one had stood up for her back then, Rose would not let history repeat itself.

"I see." Rose hummed, already planning revenge in her mind. She pulled her daughter into a hug again.

"He asked me out a couple of times and I refused," Aleksandra said reluctantly. "The more I turned him down the more persist he became." Rose felt anger flare inside of her. "Eventually he saw he wouldn't get what he wanted he started spreading rumors." The saying was correct after all, the apple did not fall far from the tree.

"And then?" Rose prompted, running her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"He thought it would be funny to grab me in front of everyone." Her daughter continued, her voice quivering and Rose knew that she was going to kill someone by the end of this talk. If Dimitri didn't beat her to it. "He didn't see Ivan was around and you know how my brother is. He had heard the rumors but they didn't faze me so he didn't care. But Andrew's actions took me by surprise and Ivan didn't need much after that." Rose wouldn't say it aloud but she was proud of the fierceness she saw in her children. They were always looking out for each other.

"I will crush him," Rose promised dropping a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"No." Aleksandra shook her head, sniffing slightly. "I just want this to be forgotten. Ivan got in a few good punches and Andrew will think twice before he does anything stupid like that." Aleksandra's voice was barely audible and Rose felt like her baby was five again, waking up from a nightmare. "Ivan was on the right place at the right time. But even if he wasn't there I would still beat Andrew up. I'm not sorry for defending myself, I'm just annoyed I let him get to me like that." Rose could relate, she had done something similar to Jesse a lifetime ago.

"Sasha," Rose murmured caressing Aleksandra's hair softly. "People like that will always talk. While fists are a very satisfying means to an end when someone invades your space they won't work for people like him. When someone tries to shame you, words will be more useful. Always aim for their ego instead of their jaw." Years dealing with fussy royals had taught Rose that words hurt more than fists. If you knew the right things to say to someone that is. There hadn't been a time that Rose didn't so far. Taking over Abe's business meant she also took the secrets too.

"I know." Her daughter nodded. "But he got physical and my training kicked in." Rose kissed the top of her head again, understanding where Aleksandra was coming from. Grabbing someone against their will was unacceptable, they had established that early on with the kids.

"I'm not mad and neither will be your dad," Rose said after a few minutes of silence. "But I expect you to fulfill your detention without any complaints. Every action has a reaction and while I understand why you lashed out it wasn't right. Alberta has worked a lot to make this a happy and healthy environment for all of you here. You should have gone to her from the start." A fresh wave of tears fell from Aleksandra's eyes and Rose pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed again and Rose felt her heart clench. Her little girl did not deserve to be treated like that. No young woman at Aleksandra's age deserved to be treated like that.

"You better be." Rose shook her head, laughing. "How do you feel about Chinese for lunch?" Aleksandra's light up at the suggestion.

"I'm starving!" Her daughter admitted gleefully.

"Go get your brother and the rest of the herd, we'll take a drive." Aleksandra was gone within seconds.

 _~oOo~_

Lunch had been a family affair as usual. Lissa's two youngest had joined them along with Declan, Adrian and Sydney's son. Rose had asked Alberta and Stan to escort them and her former teachers were more than happy. She and Stan had come to understanding but he still liked to bitch about her. Though now it came out more like him being a bitter old lady rather an asshole.

The drive to the restaurant and back was a constant noise. Arguments of who fought better talks about the best strategies to take down Strigoi, Rose just basked on it. On the sounds of her family enjoying each other's company. They had a huge unconventional and a bit dysfunctional family but it was a real one. There was no animosity between them, no complains and mean words exchanged. Just good-natured teasing and love.

It was curfew by the time they made it back to the Academy. Aleksandra had begged to stay with her in the cabin but Rose was firm about it. She did need to talk to Dimitri after all and the kids did not need to hear any of it. She was still pissed with what had happened and even more, she was pissed that Jesse was so far up his ass he though Aleksandra was the one to blame.

" _Roza?_ " Dimitri's deep voice still sent shivers down her spine. The kind of shivers that made her want him between her legs as soon as possible. " _Is everything alright?_ " She could hear the worry in his voice, Dimitri hated being away from them but it could not be avoided. It was one of the few drawbacks their way of life had.

"I missed you, Comrade." She whispered and she didn't need to see him to know he was smiling. "How's your mom?" She asked and Dimitri sighed.

" _She's handling it._ " This had been hard on all of them, they had lost the matriarch of the family and Olena had to step into Yeva's shoes now. It wasn't easy but Rose had faith in her mother-in-law. " _We all are. This is how life is supposed to be but it's still hard to believe I won't see her again._ " This was one of the few moments Rose wished she could talk to ghosts again, just to make sure Yeva made it fine to the other side. That she was in peace and happy.

"I love you." She reminded him and he laughed softly, his voice carrying to her from the other side of the world.

" _My Roza._ " Rose wished he was here to wrap his strong arms around her, he had been gone too long from her bed. She yearned to have her husband back. " _Always reminding me I'm the luckiest man on this earth._ " It was her turn to smile. " _How are the kids?_ " She frowned at his question, trying to find the best way to break the news. Dimitri was overprotective and she didn't blame him, but knowing his past she had no idea how he would react to something like that.

"There has been an incident." She said slowly, trying to break the news softly.

" _Oh?_ "

"A boy from Sasha's class became a little physical with her. He grabbed her during a break they had. Ivan was there, stepped in, Sasha tried to hold him back and ended up beating the asshole herself." Rose finally said in one breath. She ripped it like a bandaid. Now she just had to wait for the explosion. Dimitri had been fierce while protecting her when their relationship had started, that instinct multiplied since she had the twins. She didn't blame him, she felt the exact same way.

" _Who was it?_ " He growled into the receiver and Rose winced.

"Andrew Zeklos." For all the love Dimitri had for Ivan when they were younger it matched the hate he had for Jesse. They had a few run-ins during the last few years and Jesse managed to barely get away with a warning from both of them. Rose felt like his luck was finally up and Dimitri's patience nonexistent.

" _I'm going to kill him and his father._ " He swore and Rose hoped his anger would lessen before he was due to return home. They could definitely make it look like an accident. But as appealing as that sounded Rose was not willing to waste resources on Jesse and his devil spawn. Maybe maim them slightly, break a leg or a rib. Abe was fond of breaking kneecaps, maybe he'd like to do the honors.

"No, you won't, Comrade." Rose murmured and the line was quiet for a few seconds. "You'll come back and we'll deal with this together. The same way we handled people that didn't approve our relationship, then our way of living, then our marriage, then us having children. What are we, Dimitri?" She pushed.

" _A team._ " He answered and the smile was back in his voice.

"A team." She agreed. "Come back home to me soon."

" _I will._ " He promised. " _I love you._ "

"Always and forever." She made a promise of her own.

The conversation wasn't done by any means. But there was no point in going over this through a phone call. He'd come back home and they'd have a sit down with Abe. The Hathaway-Belikov patriarch would need to advise them on how to handle this properly.

For now she would stir his attention to more pleasurable subjects.

 _~The End~_


End file.
